Sequoias galore!

Rather than have breakfast in the somewhat impersonal restaurant, we had bought muffins yesterday and this morning made coffee in the room to enjoy with them sitting out on our cabin’s deck. Although the morning was a little chilly it was a real pleasure to sit there with the view of the trees as we ate.

We then packed our bags into the car and drove up to the lodge to get an hour on WiFi before leaving. Then we checked out, stopped off at the shop to buy fruit juices, snacks and some batteries, and started the drive south into the Sequoia area of the national park.

We stopped at the Redwood Overlook with a view of one of the largest groves of giant sequoias. There are over 2,100 here across an area of five square miles.

The Giant Forest

Our next stop was at the starting point of the trail to the famous General Sherman tree. The path winds down for about half a mile, with informative plaques from time to time. Your first view of the tree is looking down from a little above it, then the path descends and encircles the tree. This is the largest tree in the world by volume. Others may be taller or wider, but this is the largest overall (and very hard to photograph!)

The park website gives these statistics:

Height above base 274.9 feet / 83.8 metres
Circumference at ground 102.6 feet / 31.1 metres
Maximum diameter at base 36.5 feet / 11.1 metres
Height of first large branch above the base 130.0 feet / 39.6 metres
Average crown spread 106.5 feet / 32.5 metres

A looped path leads around some other impressive trees In the vicinity. On the way back up we stopped for a breather on a convenient bench. Hearing rustling in the undergrowth behind us we turned to see a beautiful deer enjoying some leaves just a couple of metres from the path!

We stopped briefly at the Giant Forest Museum to look at some of the exhibits, but a lot of the information duplicated what Brett had told us during the talk by the General Grant tree a couple of days ago. We also bought a leaflet at the store there with a more detailed map, and saw another of the famous monarchs (as the oldest trees are called), the Sentinel Tree.

Crescent Meadow detour

A narrow winding road led up from the Giant Forest Museum to Crescent Meadow, where the open spaces attracted other trees such as aspens, just starting to change colour. We had our snack lunch at a picnic table here and took a short stroll round part of the meadow’s edge.

We didn’t bother to queue to drive through the famous tunnel log either on our way up to or back from the meadow, instead taking the detour around the tree trunk. But we did stop long enough to get some photos of others doing so.

Halfway back down this narrow road we aimed to visit Moro Rock. The parking area was small and full (as an aside, we were surprised to see so many people everywhere in this part of the park, in contrast to our experience yesterday in Kings Canyon). Luckily Chris found room to park at the roadside, as neither of us would have wanted to miss this spot. The rock rises high above the road and 350 steps hewn into it make it possible to climb to the top.

Possible for some that is! I gave up probably just below the halfway point, and was pleased with myself for even managing that much! Chris of course made it to the top and came back with photos to share. But even from the point I had reached, the views were pretty spectacular!

Our last stop in the park was rather different. The road descended dramatically through a series of hairpin bends, dropping us about 4,000 feet in eleven miles. Near the bottom is Hospital Rock, which has some Native American pictographs. Nearby hollows in another rock show where native women once ground acorns for flour.

Gateway Lodge

Soon after this we left the park and almost immediately came to the Gateway Lodge where I’d booked a room for the night. We were a bit early so we had a cold drink in the bar while chatting a bit with the friendly staff. We then went to our ‘cottage’, a small cabin right by the river. We had a deck outside with chairs overlooking the river. We also, rather bizarrely, had a sauna in the bathroom! With outside temperatures at around 34 centigrade we didn’t feel we'd be using that!

Instead we relaxed in the room for a bit and later sat outside on our small terrace with the river below. We had dinner in the attached restaurant with friendly service and good food (I enjoyed my blackened salmon) and afterwards drinks at the bar where I discovered a new drink for me, an apple flavoured Jack Daniels.